Maxim Integrated Patent Grants

Method and circuit assembly for sensorless load detection in stepper motors

Granted: August 20, 2024
Patent Number: 12068714
A method and a circuit assembly are described with which, in a stepper motor, a mechanical load applied to the motor shaft of which can be detected without a sensor in a voltage-based operating mode in which a nominal coil current is generated by applying a predetermined coil voltage (Us) to the coil. The coil is connected in a bridge branch of a bridge circuit formed from a first to fourth semiconductor switch (S1, . . . S4), wherein the predetermined coil voltage (Us) is applied to the…

Switching power converters including injection stages, and associated methods

Granted: August 6, 2024
Patent Number: 12057767
A method for operating a switching power converter to reduce ripple current magnitude includes controlling duty cycle of a plurality power stages of the switching power converter to regulate at least one parameter of the switching power converter. Each power stage includes a respective power transfer winding that is magnetically coupled to the respective power transfer winding of each other power stage. The method further includes controlling an injection stage of the switching power…

Measurement system with controlled pressure ramp

Granted: July 23, 2024
Patent Number: 12042253
A measurement system and method of manufacture can include: a pressure resistant structure; a pressure inducer coupled to the pressure resistant structure, the pressure inducer having an engaged configuration, the engaged configuration of the pressure inducer increasing pressure exerted on a portion of a user in contact with the pressure resistant structure; a light source coupled to the pressure resistant structure; an optical sensor coupled to the pressure resistant structure and…

Time-domain link diagnostic tool

Granted: June 25, 2024
Patent Number: 12021570
A system and method for performing diagnostics of a link capable of measuring a signal pulse having a pulse width that is narrower than a sampling period of a clock signal used for data sampling. The system incorporates a phase interpolator that shifts a phase of the clock signal while preserving the sampling period of the clock signal. The method includes generating and transmitting a plurality of pulses to a link, where then each pulse is sampled according to the clock signal. After…

Transmitting clock reference over reverse channel in a bidirectional serial link

Granted: June 4, 2024
Patent Number: 12003612
A clock recovery circuit includes a clock detector configured to receive a serial data stream from a remote device over a reverse channel, wherein the serial data stream includes clock reference data, reverse channel data, or a combination of the clock reference data and the reverse channel data, and the clock detector configured to output a clock detect signal in response to detecting the clock reference data in the serial data stream; a phase lock loop including a first detector…

System and method for dual-port communication and power delivery

Granted: June 4, 2024
Patent Number: 12003346
Described herein are embodiments for dual-port communication and power delivery for one-wire applications. Embodiments of one-wire bridge devices are disclosed to provide a dual-port link for two one-wire masters to communicate with one another in a multi-voltage system while intermittently allowing charging voltage. The configuration may be used to set a bidirectional pass through mode that allows level shifted fast logic signals to pass through the two one-wire links. A timer may also…

Systems and methods for performing in-flight computations

Granted: June 4, 2024
Patent Number: 12001262
In-flight operations in an inbound data path from a source memory to a convolution hardware circuit increase computational throughput when performing convolution calculations, such as pooling and element-wise operations. Various operations may be performed in-line within an outbound data path to a target memory. Advantageously, this drastically reduces extraneous memory access and associated read-write operations, thereby, significantly reducing overall power consumption in a computing…

Systems and methods for analog electronic polarization control for coherent optical receivers

Granted: May 21, 2024
Patent Number: 11990941
Described herein are systems and methods that manage polarization in coherent optical receivers by using analog signal processing that eliminates the need for ultra-fast, power-hungry ADCs and DSPs and that would require digitization of the full-bandwidth signal path and result in bulky and expensive circuit designs. Various embodiments of the invention provide polarization correction by using an analog polarization correction circuit that implements the equivalent of two matrix…

Method and circuit assembly for the resonance damping of stepper motors

Granted: May 21, 2024
Patent Number: 11990858
A method and a circuit arrangement for damping stepper motor resonances during operation of a stepper motor (M), in particular in the medium und high speed range, is described, wherein the coils (A; B) of the stepper motor (M) are each connected into a bridge circuit (Br1; Br2) comprising semiconductor switches (Sw1, . . . Sw4), in order to impress into the coils (A; B) a predetermined target coil current (ISollA; ISollB). The resonance damping is essentially achieved by activating a…

Solenoid system with position and temperature detection

Granted: May 7, 2024
Patent Number: 11977119
A solenoid system and method can include: providing an energizing voltage to a coil of a solenoid; providing an AC signal superimposed onto the energizing voltage; detecting current through the coil including an AC current amplitude induced by the AC signal and including a DC offset current amplitude; determining the AC current amplitude is a low AC current amplitude based on an armature within the solenoid being in a retracted position or determining the AC current amplitude is a high…

MIPI translation in gigabit multimedia serial link

Granted: April 16, 2024
Patent Number: 11962674
Systems and methods provide secure, end-to-end high-speed data encoding and communication. In certain embodiments, this is accomplished by modifying a header portion of a data packet received from a first device and complying with a one Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) protocol to create a modified data packet that complies with a faster MIPI protocol. The header portion of the modified data packet is validated during a tunnel mode operation using an error detection process to…

High-voltage, bidirectional protection circuits and methods

Granted: April 16, 2024
Patent Number: 11962145
Systems and methods herein use a sensing circuit to detect an overvoltage at a voltage node as a drain current. A current-mode comparator converts the detected current into a control signal, which is provided to a control circuit. The control circuit uses the control signal cut of a bias current to turn off switches in a protection circuit to create a high-impedance electrical path between the voltage node and the to-be-protected voltage node.

Narrow pulse widths in h-bridge buck-boost drivers

Granted: March 26, 2024
Patent Number: 11943851
Described herein are systems and methods for generating short load current pulses using an H-bridge. In various embodiments, this is accomplished by controlling, in a shunting mode, a low-side switch of the H-bridge to drive a first average current and controlling, in a non-shunting mode, a high-side switch of the H-bridge to drive a second average current such that the first and second average currents are substantially the same and reduce a current pulse width of the load current.

Power status telemetry for powered devices in a system with power over ethernet

Granted: March 19, 2024
Patent Number: 11936485
A powered device interface assembly includes an optocoupler and a powered device interface. The opto-coupler is electrically coupled with a microcontroller of the power device interface. The powered device interface includes a telemetry circuit coupled with the opto-coupler and configured to generate encoded telemetry information for output via a single pin of the powered device interface for transmission to the microcontroller of the powered device, wherein the opto-coupler is coupled…

Oscillation reduction in haptic vibrators by minimization of feedback acceleration

Granted: March 5, 2024
Patent Number: 11921923
Described herein are embodiments for reducing haptic vibrations for electronic devices. Embodiments of an oscillation reduction scheme learned offline are disclosed for minimizing the acceleration for a haptic vibrator. A pattern and braking generation module outputs a pattern signal for amplification and then for driving the haptic vibrator. An accelerometer measures acceleration induced by vibration from the haptic vibrator. The pattern and braking generation module adjusts the pattern…

Systems and methods for controlling powerstage supply modulation via audio interface

Granted: February 27, 2024
Patent Number: 11917378
Systems and methods increase power efficiency in communication systems by examining a digital signal to determine whether a threshold corresponding to an increase in a power requirement is likely to be exceeded. The signal is encoded with information indicating the likely change and communicated to a driver that, upon extracting the information, uses it to cause instruct an amplifier to increase a power output to accommodate the increase in power requirement. Once the threshold is no…

Fault attack resistant cryptographic systems and methods

Granted: February 13, 2024
Patent Number: 11902412
Described herein are systems and methods that prevent against fault injection attacks. In various embodiments this is accomplished by taking advantage of the fact that an attacker cannot utilize a result that has been faulted to recover a secret. By using infective computation, an error is propagated in a loop such that the faulted value will provide to the attacker no useful information or information from which useful information may be extracted. Faults from a fault attack will be so…

Fault attack resistant cryptographic systems and methods

Granted: February 13, 2024
Patent Number: 11902412
Described herein are systems and methods that prevent against fault injection attacks. In various embodiments this is accomplished by taking advantage of the fact that an attacker cannot utilize a result that has been faulted to recover a secret. By using infective computation, an error is propagated in a loop such that the faulted value will provide to the attacker no useful information or information from which useful information may be extracted. Faults from a fault attack will be so…

Switching power converter assemblies including coupled inductors, and associated methods

Granted: January 9, 2024
Patent Number: 11869695
A coupled inductor includes first and second magnetic rails, a plurality of connecting magnetic elements, and a plurality of windings. The first and second magnetic rails are separated from each other in a first direction, and the first magnetic rail has a first cross-sectional area A1 as seen when viewed in the first direction. Each connecting magnetic element is disposed between the first and second magnetic rails in the first direction. The plurality of connecting magnetic elements…

Analyte sensor package and method for analyzing fluid samples

Granted: December 26, 2023
Patent Number: 11850586
A sensor package, a sensor system, and a method for fabricating the sensor package are described that include a sensing chip having dispense chemistry disposed over an array of conductive elements. In an implementation, the sensor package may include a sensing chip that may include at least one conductive element, wherein the at least one conductive element may be part of an array of conductive elements defining a M by N matrix, where M is a number of rows of the at least one conductive…